Comments for on the precipicehttps://sharanam.wordpress.com
exploring living by dying to every momentFri, 20 Nov 2015 22:50:04 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/Comment on A humble attempt to define choiceless awareness by sharanamhttps://sharanam.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/a-humble-attempt-to-define-choiceless-awareness/#comment-1115
Fri, 20 Nov 2015 22:50:04 +0000http://sharanam.wordpress.com/?p=852#comment-1115Thanks for your comment and for the URL correction, Mark! My teacher Sayadaw U Tejaniya always emphasizes interest and curiosity in his teaching of this pure awareness practice, which is of course at the root of a question like “What is this?” So yes!
]]>Comment on A humble attempt to define choiceless awareness by Markhttps://sharanam.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/a-humble-attempt-to-define-choiceless-awareness/#comment-1114
Fri, 20 Nov 2015 19:17:22 +0000http://sharanam.wordpress.com/?p=852#comment-1114Hello Katherine: Thanks for posting this. I found this phrase in Krishnamurti’s teachings, too, and have been looking around on the Interwebs to see what other teachers are saying. It’s such an incredibly simple teaching that I think our minds revolt. saying “it can’t be that simple! Just being here, noticing, can’t be all there is!” I’ve had some habitual storylines, believed assumptions, flaring up lately that dig at my ideas of self-worth. Just being aware of the storylines, and even using a gentle “what is this?” questioning really helps. Anyway, if you’re curious, your article was the 4th hit in a Bing search on the exact phrase “Choiceless awareness.” BTW, it looks like the Toni Packer article “What is your Innermost Core” has changed to http://www.springwatercenter.org/toni-packer/articles/what-is-my-innermost-core/ Best,

Mark

]]>Comment on A humble attempt to define choiceless awareness by dgomezhttps://sharanam.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/a-humble-attempt-to-define-choiceless-awareness/#comment-986
Sun, 19 Apr 2015 20:13:28 +0000http://sharanam.wordpress.com/?p=852#comment-986I might have found the answer to my own questions.

I guess what confused me is the difference of attention and concentration. As per this article:

So it is the focused kind of concentration which produces duality. The kind of concentration that requires effort.

So as long as one attends effortlessly and choicelessly to sensations physical, mental, and emotionally ( and not even identify these sensations like so but simply as sensations ) then one is in choiceless awareness ( also no mind? also non abiding awareness?)

It might also have been a mistake to categorize attention as narrow or broad as one might be introducing an unnecessary technicality. But simply there should be attention.

It seems to me that the terms “no mind” “non abidding” and “choiceless awareness” are all the same.

And that they all point to the same thing – “broad attention”. In terms of vision, its like using peripheral vision as opposed to selective focused vision – where you dissect the visual field into separate things. Hence, there would arise a duality – the subject and the object, the knower and the known.

In broad attention you would be seeing everything equally – hence no divisions. This being your own existence ( meaning one’s body, thoughts, and emotions ) included in the panorama of awareness. Like watching yourself included in the movie. So – no duality.

Is broad attention the way to go? Or is this a matter of preference?

Narrowing attention to instances like light reflecting on curtains, the texture of the car’s steering wheel, the smell of coffee in the morning, the siren of a police car, the taste of beer after at the end of a working day, is also undeniably enjoyable.

Or is the point just being to see what is – irregardless of what attention mode (broad or narrow) that you would use – and not be fooled with thoughts- like being carried away to talking to yourself. Not exempting thoughts but regarding them as a feature of the panorama of awareness?

Am I missing the point of these teachers? ( Alan Watts, J. Krishnamurti)

I hope I’m being clear here.

Thanks.

]]>Comment on What happens when you decide not to call yourself a Buddhist by Randyhttps://sharanam.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/what-happens-when-you-decide-not-to-call-yourself-a-buddhist/#comment-950
Wed, 04 Feb 2015 04:17:36 +0000http://sharanam.wordpress.com/?p=1329#comment-950Even though I practice meditation, read my share of Buddhist writings and so forth, I’ve never considered myself “Buddhist.” Part of what appeals to me about those elements of Buddhism is that it opens many paths to me and I can decide the “right” one, because the practice shouldn’t be about definitions, just as a journey shouldn’t be about the destination. Anyway, I enjoyed your post very much. Thank you for sharing.
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